


Legacy

by Silence_Will_Fall201



Series: Aftermath [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Feels, In moderation, Last two chapters contain Far From home Spoilers, Pepper Potts is amazing, Peter Parker-centric, Peter is part of Tony's legacy, Sad Peter, Set after Endgame, Set after Far From Home so I don't have to deal with any of that, the avengers love peter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-05-16 12:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19317874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silence_Will_Fall201/pseuds/Silence_Will_Fall201
Summary: Peter's settling into life after Tony's death and trying to make his way through being an Avenger, a genius and just a normal kid. Thank Odin for Pepper Potts.Everyone can't seem to stop realising how similar Peter actually is to Tony. The kid is still finding his footing in the world, but his friends, family and the Avengers are there to help him along.He will never be Tony Stark, he'll never be Iron Man, but Peter Parker will always be a part of Tony Stark's legacy.





	1. The Workshop

**Author's Note:**

> These chapters will all be short just to make it easier on me. This is just a fic I've had in mind for a while.

 

Pepper didn’t think too much as she walked through the rebuilt Avengers compound. The compound was doubling as Stark Industries’ New York offices for the foreseeable future, so she was getting used to walking around it more. Every time she did, though, she never laid even an eye over the large memorial in the foyer. It was a statue, not a huge statue of Tony or an Iron Man armour, but a small statue of an Iron Man helmet and an Arc Reactor sitting on a pedestal.

She just couldn’t bare to even think about what she had lost every time she walked into the building, so she didn’t.

Pepper kept her head down as she walked through the workshops on the Avengers side of the compound, passing Banner and Shuri’s labs, the former being larger to accomodate Bruce’s state as the midway point between Hulk and man. When she came to the end of the hall, she was supposed to turn left, but she stopped in her tracks.

In front of her was a workshop made to be almost a replica of Tony’s workshop from the Malibu house. Every detail was recorded by Tony’s AI’s and stored on a separate device in case a reconstruction was needed. Pepper had the workshop installed purely because she wanted her own way to remember Tony without memorials and parades. She wanted to remember life _before_ Iron Man and the Avengers just as much as she wanted to remember life after. She sometimes just sat in the workshop and cried, getting FRIDAY to dim the lights and automatically tint the windows as she curled up on the couch in the corner of the room.

What got her to stop, though, wasn’t memories. It was the faint sound of music coming from the workshop, only muffled by the glass separating the workshop and the hallway. She couldn’t see through the slightly frosted glass very well, so she didn’t register who was inside when she put her hand on the door. Without thinking, she typed in her entrance code - one she remembered even after all these years - and stepped inside.

What she was faced with wasn’t Tony with a screwdriver in his mouth as he subconsciously bopped his head to AC/DC, working on a car or the latest Iron Man suit. It was the sight of a teenager, wearing a ratty t-shirt, biting his bottom lip in concentration as he tried to jam a power source into a small cube-shaped device. The music playing over the speakers wasn’t hard rock by any means, but it was still the classics, no doubt picked from Tony’s personal library that had miraculously been some of the files that had beens saved. Peter was listening to Huey Lewis and the News, the song ‘Heart and Soul’ filling the space.

In that moment, Pepper could barely breathe. The similarities were so obvious in that moment that even Pepper was having a hard time remembering that Peter and Tony weren’t actually related. The boy looked right at home in the space, settled into the chair as he worked, holographic schematics displayed all around him. She also noticed a bowl of pretzels sitting next to the device on the workbench and the oddest sight of a grease stained wrench half inside the bowl. Peter didn’t seem to care as he occasionally stuck his hand into the bowl to grab a handful of the snack.

“Peter?” Pepper asked loudly over the music.

Hearing his name, Peter flinched just as the power source finally slid into the device, but the outcome was obviously not what he was expecting. Almost immediately the device began to glow blue at the seams, the power source inside overloading. Peter yelped and threw the device over the workbench over to the garage entrance to the lab. Pepper could only watch as the device exploded, the pieces of metal flying all over the lab, enough for Peter to take cover and Pepper to step back quickly as one piece flew over her head.

“Hey Miss Potts - Mrs Stark.” Peter said hesitantly, fumbling over her name.

“Pepper’s fine, kid.” She said distractedly, eyes glassing over at the sight of the slightly scorched flooring.

Just like old times.

“What-what are you, uh, doing here?” Peter fidgeted in place as he watched Pepper’s posture deflate. She turned around and looked him over.

“I was about to go to my office to do paperwork and schedule meetings.” She replied. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Oh! It’s summer break right now, so I thought I’d come here and work on some ideas…they, uh, didn’t work out too well.” He winced.

“And why did you choose this workshop?” Pepper asked, her voice nearly breaking.

“Oh, it was the only one free when I came here and FRIDAY let me in.” He gestured vaguely to the control panel at the door. “This is a sweet workshop.” He grinned as his eyes roamed the room “I could spend days in here.”

“Tony did.” Pepper muttered. Peter’s smile fell and he stared at her before she elaborated. “This was…this was Tony’s lab, at the old house before he permanently moved to New York. The house that got destroyed. Tony, though, he-uh….” She slumped down on an empty seat next to Peter. “He had plans for everything. He kept a record of every fine detail of that house and sent it off site so if he wanted to he could reconstruct everything if he lost it.” She sighed. “Of course he never did, but I-I had to. To reminisce some times I guess.”

“I didn’t know, I’m sorry.” Peter’s eyes were welling up with tears just as Pepper’s were. He spoke softly and sincerely. He really didn’t mean to upset her.

“No.” Pepper stated more confidently. “It’s okay, you can stay. It’s good that this space is getting some use.”

“Wait, really?” Peter’s eyes widened.

“Yeah.” Pepper nodded. “I-just…” She shook her head. “It was good to see someone in here again. It shouldn’t just be a spot for me to feel sad, and he’d…he’d want you to use this space. He’d want you to have it.” Peter couldn’t say anything as she continued. “Everyone else has their own lab here, so why don’t you use this one? You’re so much like Tony in so many ways that I think you’ll find everything you need here.”

“No, no I couldn’t.” Peter was now fully crying, though the tears were falling without any sobs to accompany them. “I can’t take this. Not now.”

“Pete, you’ve been working out of a lab in the back of a plane for months. It’s time you have a lab at the compound.” Pepper stated.

“Then allocate me a new one. I don’t need _this_ one.” Peter was basically begging, but Pepper couldn’t seem to give in. It’d be good for _both_ of them if Peter took the workshop. It was a way for Peter to feel close without actively thinking about him.

“I’d still come in from time to time as I need to.” Pepper said quieter. “I still need this space just as much as I think you need it.”

“I don’t need it.” Peter said defiantly. “I don’t. I like the lab in the back of the plane.”

“It’s not conventional.” Pepper pointed out. “Peter, don’t fight me on this.”

“I…” Peter trailed off before letting the sobs come out. Pepper simply held him in her arms as he cried.

“FRIDAY?” Pepper called out softly.

 _“Yes, Boss?”_ FRIDAY replied.

“This workshop is Peter’s now. Deny access to anyone except Peter, myself and whoever else Peter allows in.”

_“Of course.”_

“Thank you.” Peter sniffled into her shoulder.

“You’re welcome, Peter.”


	2. The Poison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter is poisoned and asks Happy to get some stuff for him from Bruce Banner's lab. Happy isn't too happy to know that Peter has the patented Stark deflection technique down, even though the kid isn't even a Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMER!!!
> 
> I know literally nothing about science (Well that's not true. I just don't know a thing about Chemistry - I'm more an engineering girl myself) and so any scientific terms, information and whatnot in this chapter are just gotten from the internet. I've tried to make it as accurate as I can, but obviously since this is a fanfic it's not going to be perfect. I've tried to handle this like how Iron Man 2 handled Palladium poisoning. They researched it, obviously, but generally Palladium isn't that toxic.

Injuries were common for Peter. He was Spider-Man, swinging around New York and finding trouble just so he could look out for the little guy. Sometimes, he got injured. That was fine. Generally it was just a bullet graze, or a knife wound, but never something as bad as a poison that was tearing down his immune system faster than his healing could handle.

In layman’s terms; he looked like death. Felt like it too.

He had been fighting ‘The Scorpion’. The guy had broken out of prison and decided his first priority was making Peter so weak that just somebody sneezing could kill him. Peter tried to subdue him, but once the tail had stung him, he decided to let the guy go for a little while. Karen had immediately analysed the toxin, and it was just his luck he wasn’t wearing the Iron Spider suit.

Karen had immediately sealed the suit - not giving him the option to take off the mask or the gloves - which allowed Peter to move freely until he got to the compound - which took much longer than he would have liked. Once at the compound, Peter locked himself in his workshop. FRIDAY had quarantined the space in preparation for Peter’s arrival, and once he was inside, the doors and windows were sealed shut, the windows tinting automatically.

Peter peeled off the suit and threw it on the ground. He grabbed a small device off the desk and pricked his finger with the sharp needle on the side, allowing the scanner to run its tests on the toxin in Peter’s blood.

“What’s the diagnosis, FRIDAY?” Peter asked as he chucked the scanner back onto the workshop bench.

 _“White blood cell count is down 40% and counting.”_ FRIDAY announced, bringing up a hologram to show Peter his vitals. _“Red blood cell count seems to be declining at a similar rate.”_ Peter groaned and sat on the chair.

“Symptoms?” Peter asked. “Keep a checklist.” A checklist appeared in the hologram.

_“Fatigue.”_

“Check.”

_“Weakness.”_

“Pretty sure I’ve got that one.”

_“Shortness of breath.”_

“Keep that one open, FRIDAY.” Peter spoke quickly, the checkmark not being filled on that symptom.

 _“Increased heart rate.”_ Before Peter could answer, FRIDAY was already checking that one off. _“I am monitoring your vitals.”_ FRIDAY added. _“Dizziness or lightheadedness.”_

“Check.”

_“Headaches.”_

“Yep.”

_“Chest pain.”_

“Nope.” Peter was thankful for that one.

 _“Pale skin.”_ FRIDAY said. Peter scoffed.

“Possibly.”

 _“While monitoring your vitals, I have determined you are currently suffering from Anaemia.”_ A symptom appeared on the holographic list with a checkmark next to it. _“Periodically use the scanner so I can monitor your condition closely.”_ FRIDAY instructed.

“Yep. Got it.” Peter sighed and nodded.

 _“Shall I call Boss or Mr. Hogan?”_ FRIDAY asked.

“No. Leave them out of it.” Peter decided. “Just make sure nobody comes in here.”

 _“The doors are sealed. Unless somebody uses an override code, they cannot enter. If that is the case, I will advise against entering.”_ FRIDAY told him. _“What do you plan to do?”_

“I’m going to try and work on a counter-agent to the toxin.” Peter said quickly. “Pull up chemical makeup of the toxin in my bloodstream.” The hologram changed and Peter was faced with the toxin’s inner workings.

 _“The toxin included several strains of known auto-immune diseases. It seemed to be specially formulated for someone with a high metabolism and ability to heal.”_ FRIDAY told him.

“Okay…” Peter trailed off. “Create a list: Things known to increase blood cell count.” Peter instructed. A list appeared on the side of the holographic display, slightly shifting the display of the toxin. “Iron, Folic Acid, B-12, Copper and A.” Peter closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head and he tried to think of more things to add to the list. “B-6 and E.” He added. “Put those under subheading: Red blood cells.” The subheading appeared. “Add new subheading: White blood cells.” He sighed, opened his eyes and groaned. “While I’m not particularly amazing at chemistry, I hope I can do this without breaking too much of a sweat.” He muttered.

 _“I don’t think that’s possible, Peter. I believe your increased heart rate is causing you to sweat.”_ FRIDAY commented.

“Okay, nobody asked for your input, FRIDAY!” Peter glared pointedly at the ceiling. He then went back to the problem at hand. “Add; Filgrastim, Pegfilgrastim and Sargramostim to the ‘White blood cells’ subheading.” FRIDAY did so and Peter continued. “All are autoimmune stabilisers and stimulants, so they should help me for a little while, though in high doses.” He thought aloud. “Do we have any of those in the compound?” Peter asked FRIDAY.

 _“Doctor Banner has some in his lab. Shall I ask someone to retrieve them for you?”_ FRIDAY asked.

“Ask an intern. I don’t want anyone knowing about this.” Peter sighed.

 _“An intern will not be allowed access into the lab. I will have to ask someone of higher authority.”_ FRIDAY told him quickly. Peter groaned and rubbed his eyes.

“Fine. Ask Happy.” Peter decided.

 _“Of course.”_ A few moments later, FRIDAY returned with the news. _“Mr. Hogan will bring them up shortly.”_

“Alright. Cool, cool.” Peter sighed.

When Happy appeared outside the door to Peter’s workshop, he tried opening it only for FRIDAY to flash red lights at him and shut him out. Peter only stared as Happy shouted at the ceiling.

 _“Mr. Hogan has used an override code. I have advised him against entering.”_ FRIDAY informed him just as Happy entered. Once he was inside, the door was sealed behind him.

“Kid, I’ve got your chemicals.” Happy sighed and went to give them to Peter, but Peter moved away from Happy.

“Just…stand by the door. Thanks.” Peter told him quickly. Happy frowned but did as he said.

“Want to tell me what this is about? You stole stuff from Banner.” Happy cast a critical eye over Peter. He noted how bad the kid looked. Peter’s skin was pale and held no colour except for the dark bags under his eyes. His fingertips almost looked blue in the light, his hair was all over the place and his face looked thinner than usual.

“I’m just working on some stuff.” Peter said dismissively as he pulled on some gloves he had on the workbench so he could pick up the vials that Happy had touched.

“And what would this stuff be?” Happy asked.

“Oh, you know…medicine for me because I’ve got a high metabolism and burn through everything.” Peter told him, which wasn’t entirely untrue.

“Kid, we’ve had that sort of medicine since Cap.” Happy raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, well, what if I told you my metabolism was higher?” Peter pursed his lips, annoyed, as he slotted the vials into an injecting device.

“I wouldn’t believe you.” Happy huffed. “What’s really going on, kid?”

“Fine, you caught me, I’m trying to give myself more superpowers.” Peter said sarcastically, his eyes sparking with humour but his posture rigid and shaking slightly. “I didn’t want to tell anyone, for obvious reasons.”

Happy was speechless for only a moment. It wasn’t because he believed what the kid was saying - which he didn’t - but it was because of the familiarity of the exchange. Peter was obviously in some trouble, or trying to work something out on his own, and because Happy was asking questions, the kid resorted to humour and lying to try and push Happy out of the way. It didn’t work on Happy. The tactic hadn’t worked on Happy in years. He had to deal with it when Tony did it, and he had to deal with it when Peter did it.

“Kid, I’m not going to buy anything you’re saying until it’s the truth.” Happy finally told him.

“Fine.” Peter huffed. He finished slotting in the vials and stared at Happy. “I was poisoned.” He said matter-of-factly. Happy’s eyes widened and Peter continued. “It’s nothing I can’t fix, it’s just currently very pressing and _very_ life threatening, hence why I locked myself in here.” Peter said dismissively. “So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t sneeze.”

“What?” Happy asked, confused. It was a weird thing to ask.

“My immune system has been lowered and my blood cells, red and white, are currently lowering rapidly, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t sneeze.” He explained quickly as he injected the drugs into his arm one by one, the injector cycling through the vials, like a revolver, until there was nothing more to inject. “FRIDAY?” Peter asked once he did so, grabbing the scanner and testing his blood again.

 _“It will not be an immediate reaction.”_ FRIDAY commented. _“It is suggested a daily injection of Filgrastim. It should take at least 24 hours for any improvement to occur. Until then, it is suggested to eat foods containing the items under_ ** _Red Blood Cells_** _”_ FRIDAY explained. Peter nodded and turned back to Happy.

“So I guess I’m staying here. Probably until the weekend is over.” Peter told him. Happy sighed and shook his head.

“Yeah, sure. What do I tell Pepper?” Happy asked, knowing Peter wouldn’t want Pepper to know a thing about what was happening. “Better yet, what do I tell Banner when he notices his stuff is missing?”

“Whatever comes into your head.” Peter shrugged. He swayed slightly on his feet and tried to take a step, only for his leg to give out and him to stumble. “I think I should sleep. You should leave and make sure nobody comes in here, yeah?” Peter yawned and stumbled over to the couch, pulling his gloves off and throwing them on the floor as he walked.

“Sure, kid.” Happy sighed. “I’ll come check on you in the morning.”

“Cool.” Peter slumped on the couch. “Thanks.”


	3. The Man Who Saved The Universe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan wants Peter to tell her a story about Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's supposed to be kind of a sweet moment between Morgan and Peter.
> 
> I've seen Far From Home, BTW. It complicates a few details, so basically I've decided that this particular fic is still set directly after FFH, including the end credits scene, however, since FFH is literally just out in cinemas, I will not be mentioning a single thing that has happened in FFH that was not mentioned in any of the trailers. So THAT End credits scene is still canon for this fic. That will probably be addressed in the next instalment in the Aftermath series, which will be out at a later date.

Peter hadn’t entirely planned on going to the Stark’s house for the weekend. He did it sometimes, but it wasn’t a regular thing. Even then, he didn’t pass up the opportunity to go since Pepper told him Morgan had demanded Peter be there. It was Morgan’s birthday the next week and she’d be turning five. Since Peter couldn’t be there for her birthday specifically, she asked that he be there at least for the weekend. So, like the good ‘big brother’ he was, Peter agreed.

He spent the day with Morgan. He took her web swinging around the trees in the yard of the lake house, which Pepper wasn’t thrilled to learn, but Morgan loved it so she let it go. Peter played with her in her cubby by the lake, and instead of tea parties that girls her age usually held, Morgan had made cardboard masks of superheroes and wanted Peter to play fight with her. Peter had just laughed and did as she wanted. Morgan, of course, put on a cardboard Iron Man mask, while Peter - who surprisingly wasn’t Spider-Man - had on a cardboard Captain America mask. Apparently one of the stories Tony had told her was a kid-friendly version of the Civil War fight, and she wanted to re-enact it to the best of her ability.

Peter ate dinner with Pepper and Morgan, feeling way more domestic than he had felt in a long time. After dinner though, he had some work he desperately needed to finish so Pepper allowed him to work at Tony’s holographic table by the stairs. Peter originally declined the offer, saying he could just work on it later at The Compound, but Pepper insisted.

So there Peter was, focused entirely on a problem he and Shuri were trying to solve. It was an Avengers related issue. Peter wasn’t entirely confident he would go back to working with the Avengers - the new iteration - at that time, but he was still happy to work on any science related issues they might have. So he worked on it for hours, not stopping even when he was being watched by Pepper from the living room.

“Peter?” A small voice asked. Peter jumped and hit his hand on the edge of the table. He gritted his teeth and muffled the curse that immediately came to his mouth.

“Hey, Morguna.” Peter greeted Morgan, who was hugging a stuffed bear tightly from her spot on the stairs. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” Peter raised an eyebrow at the four year old.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Morgan said simply. “Will you tell me a story?” She asked. Peter was shocked for a moment, not answering. He loved Morgan, but wasn’t entirely sure how to go about taking care of a child. He supposed that was due to him being a child - teenager - himself.

“Uh…sure.” Peter replied eventually. Morgan raised her arms above her head as Peter neared, and Peter sighed as he picked her up.

He walked upstairs, Morgan in his arms, to her bedroom. He sat her on her bed and she wiggled herself under the covers with a big grin on her face. Peter chuckled as Morgan chucked her toy bear at his head, only for him to catch it swiftly and place it beside her.

“Story.” Morgan stated.

“Yeah, okay. What do you want to hear?” Peter asked, pushing some hair out of her face.

“Tell me a story about Daddy.” Morgan said. Peter froze, hand still on Morgan’s face, as his mind raced with stories he could tell her.

“Alright…” Peter trailed off. “This is a story about The Man Who Saved The Universe.” Peter began with a tight smile, his heart beating as the memories flashed through his head. “The story starts in a cave.” Peter recalled the time Tony had told him all about what happened in Afghanistan. “The man was told to help some very bad people, but instead the man tricked them to help himself and his friend. The man lost his friend, and after escaping, the man decided he would help people. That man was your Daddy.” Peter smiled at Morgan’s giggle. “Your Daddy did things the police and the army couldn’t. He went to places they weren’t supposed to go and he saved people. He did this for years, saving people where he could. Then a man called Nick Fury formed a team of very special people.”

“The Avengers!” Morgan exclaimed with a grin.

“That’s right.” Peter nodded. “The Avengers were sent to stop something that could hurt a lot of people. They didn’t think they could stop it, until your Daddy stopped them. After this, he continued to be a hero, with your Mommy at his side. Together, they stopped a man who tried to hurt them both, and a lot of people. Then, your Daddy helped stop a big scary robot.” Peter was rushing through the things he didn’t know too much about so he could get to the stuff he was sure Morgan really wanted to hear. “All was good until the big fight between Captain America and your Daddy, but you already know about that one.”

“Daddy never told me much about what you did there. He said it was too sad for him.” Morgan’s small voice stopped Peter in his tracks. He took in a shaky breath.

“Your Daddy let me help him fight. I helped keep everyone together, but I don’t think I was supposed to get as close as I did.” Peter chuckled sadly. “I think I may have given your Daddy grey hairs before you were born.” Morgan laughed vibrantly and Peter continued. “Anyway, after helping your Daddy with his problem, he helped me with mine. It was a rocky start, but we got there. I was going against his orders and going after someone very bad. Your Daddy was trying to help by telling me not to get too close, and leave it to the big guys, but of course I didn’t do that.” Morgan laughed and her hand found Peter’s. “Your Daddy helped me when I made a big mess out of a big boat, and he saved my life when I fell into a lake.” Peter smiled sadly at the memories.

“When did Daddy save the Universe?” Morgan asked.

“Did he tell you why I wasn’t around?” Peter said suddenly, the question taking Morgan by surprise. She shook her head. “We got caught up in trying to fight the ultimate bad guy. We didn’t know everything we needed to know, and we lost.”

“You lost?” Morgan frowned. Peter grimaced. Children tended to idolise heroes and thought they never lost.

“Yeah, Morgie, we lost.” Peter sighed. “I…blipped away, so I wasn’t there anymore. Your Daddy lost me.” He took in another shaky breath. “Your Daddy lived five years without me, so when I returned he gave me a hug.” He shrugged. “But this is where he saved the universe.” His face turned serious and Morgan watched him intently. “The ultimate bad guy was back. He was trying to hurt everyone in the universe, so your Daddy and all the Avengers - me included this time - decided we were going to stop him.” He gave her a confident nod. “The bad guy wanted these colourful rocks that, when put together, would hurt a lot of people. So, we took the rocks from him. We were trying to get them back to where they came from, but the bad guy got them back.” Peter felt a tear roll down his cheek. “Your Daddy did the best thing he could have done in that situation, and he snatched the rocks back from the bad guy. Do you know what he said?”

“No.” Morgan shook her head, but she was intently listening.

“He told the bad guy, “I am Iron Man” right before he blipped the bad guy and all his friends away.” Peter told her, sad smile on his face. “He saved the Universe right then and there. In a single instant, your Daddy became the best hero in the world.” Morgan’s eyes were shining.

“Wow…” Morgan trailed off in wonder.

“I have no idea how much of that you actually listen to, since that was more words than I was expecting.” Peter chuckled and stood from his spot on the bed.

“Not too much words.” Morgan shrugged. Peter let out a ‘huh’ and nodded.

“Alright. I told you a story, so I think it’s time for you to go to bed.” Peter announced, walking to the door to Morgan’s room, his hand on the light switch.

“Peter?” Morgan asked before he could switch the lights off.

“Yeah, Morgie?”

“I love you 2000.” She told him, smile on her face as she covered her arms in her blankets.

Peter froze as the words really sunk in. Pepper had told him about Morgan’s system for saying she loved someone. It was her thing with Tony, mostly, and 3000 was his number. Peter was shocked that he was included in her system. It felt like a secret club, something that he had wanted to be a part of, but was sure he wouldn’t be. It turned out Morgan had other plans, and all Peter did was stare at her for what felt like an eternity. When he saw the expression shift from happiness to confusion on Morgan’s face, Peter shook out of his thoughts.

“I love you too Morgan.” Peter told her, the smile returning to her face in an instant. “2000s a pretty big number, huh?” He teased.

“Bestest big brother.” She announced. Peter chuckled and flipped out her lights.

“Go to bed, Morgie.” He told her gently. “Goodnight.”

“Night!” She called just as Peter left her doorway.

Peter made his way down the stairs and flopped on the couch next to Pepper. Pepper gave him an odd look, but smiled. Peter felt exhaustion creeping in, but he had more work to do so he wasn’t going to let a lack of sleep stop him.

“What did she make you tell her?” Pepper asked once she gathered Peter had settled.

“She made me tell her about Tony…” Peter trailed off, looking to his hands that were shaking in his lap. Pepper took in a sharp breath.

“Oh, honey.” Pepper put her arm on his shoulder and Peter let the tears flow. He wasn’t noisy though, just sad, the mixture of exhaustion and the re-lived memories of Tony caused him to overflow in that instant.

“I miss him.” Peter muttered.

“I do to, and Morgan.” Pepper sighed. “She wants to know more about him, though, and I will never keep that information from her. It’s better that she knows from the people closest to her, than from the press.”

“Agreed.” Peter nodded. There was comfortable silence between them both for several moments. It felt odd, but Peter had become like family to the Stark’s. He just wished Tony was around to see it. He was already close to the man before everything, but once he was gone…Peter felt like he owed to Pepper and Morgan to be there. “She told me she loved me 2000.” Peter said eventually, breaking the silence. Pepper looked at him without saying a word as the thought processed.

“Is that a bad thing?” She finally asked him.

“No. I don’t think so.” Peter shook his head. “I just…wasn’t expecting it, I suppose.”

“Your basically her big brother, Pete.” Pepper smiled slightly “She loves you.”

“I almost don’t feel worthy, you know?” Peter sighed. Pepper nodded and looked down.

“I know. But you are.” She told him. “Your an honorary Stark, Peter, and Morgan has realised that.” Peter chuckled at that.

“Yeah…yeah I guess in some ways I am.” He shook his head slightly, but was grateful for the words.

“Apart from Happy and Rhodey, you’re the dominant male figure in her life. She loves it when you come around. Whenever you’re not here, I catch her trying to sneak into the workshop to build something she watched you build.” Pepper told him, making him laugh. “I do not appreciate those silly string web-shooters by the way. I’m still finding bits of string around the house.” Peter put his hands up in mock defence.

“She asked for them.” He said quickly. “You know how hard it is to say no to her.”

“Oh yeah.” Pepper nodded. “I think you should go to sleep, Pete.” She said as he yawned. Peter shook his head.

“I’d love to, but I’ve still got this problem to work on.” He gestured vaguely towards the holo-table. Pepper shook her head.

“It could probably wait until the morning.” She stood. “Either way, I’m going to bed. If you’re staying up, make sure to turn out the lights once you’re done.” Peter gave her a mock salute as she walked up the stairs. He sighed and turned back to the holo-table. He had some work to do.


	4. The Mechanic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter crash lands in a familiar face's backyard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This maybe my favourite chapter so far. I might up the chapter count to 6, by the way, because I have one extra idea.

Peter hadn’t counted on being the only hero at the compound at the precise moment of the attack. He hadn’t counted on having to stop working just so he could stop the guy that looked suspiciously like the Hulk had a baby with a Rhino, and he certainly hadn’t counted on the Rhino-guy being as strong as he was. He had the worst luck.

It certainly wasn’t the first time Peter had been flung through the air faster than he thought possible, and he was incredibly glad he had been wearing the Iron Spider suit to minimise the damage to his actual body from the force of the punch. Never-mind the suit, that was most certainly scrap metal.

Peter was sure he blacked out, so when he was finally fully aware, he was crash landing, and it was night time. Karen seemed to have taken control of the suit, activating the flight functions, but once Peter regained consciousness, the AI released all control back to him. Peter had no time to think, and crashed directly into the backyard of a particularly isolated house.

Peter groaned, not moving a muscle as he settled into the crater he had created. Everything hurt. His stomach had taken the brunt of the Rhino-guy’s force, and he felt bruises in the shape of an abnormally large fist. His back ached from the impact of crash landing and he was pretty sure he had broken his wrist. All in all, it wasn’t the worst that could’ve happened, but it still sucked big time.

“Karen? Where am I?” Peter asked with a wheeze.

 _“Upstate New York.”_ Karen replied. _“Closest land mark is Raquette Lake.”_ Peter sat up with a grunt, the shock of Karen’s words hitting him quickly.

“So I’m hours away from the compound…great.” Peter huffed. “What’s damaged in the suit?” The HUD shifted to showing Peter a display of the suit, red highlighting the damaged parts.

 _“The Iron Spider suit is not capable of flight functions, stored web fluid has been depleted and there is a critical failure in the navigation system. There is also significant damage to the torso of the suit.”_ Karen told him. Peter sighed and shook his head, the mask retracting.

“Retract the suit.” Peter ordered. Almost immediately, the suit came away from Peter’s body and folded neatly into a ‘briefcase’ for Peter to cart around with him. Peter stood and grabbed the case. “Okay…Raquette Lake…so I’m close to the lake house. Convenient.” Peter muttered to himself.

He saw a light inside the house turn on and Peter paled. He quickly ducked behind a tree - the worst place to be - and hoped that whoever lived in the house didn’t notice the teenager lurking in the yard. He wasn’t fortunate, though, and once the door to the backyard opened, a flashlight beam was shone directly over Peter.

“Whoever’s there, I’d come out now. I’m armed.” The person called. Peter frowned and stepped out into the open, having dropped the case for the Iron Spider suit to put his hands up. What he saw, however, made the whole situation better.

“Harley?” Peter asked, squinting under the light.

“Peter?” Harley called back, having dropped his ‘weapon’ - a potato gun - once he realised who was in his back yard. “What the hell are you doing here?” Harley walked forward and pulled Peter into a quick hug. Peter shrugged and winced as he bent down to pick up the case. “You’re hurt.”

“Yeah.” Peter wheezed as he pulled himself back into standing straight. “Do you by any chance have a car able to at least take me to the lake house?” Peter asked. Harley shook his head.

“My mom took it for work. Sorry.” Harley answered. Peter sighed and nodded.

“Cool, okay.” He looked down at the case and then back to Harley. “You still have a workshop?” Harley’s eyes lit up and he nodded.

“Yeah. You should see it, man, it’s pretty damn cool.” Harley grinned as he led Peter to the garage, the superhero limping the entire way. Harley did a dramatic hand gesture as he opened the garage door, revealing his workshop inside. It was by no means Peter’s workshop back at the compound, and it didn’t even measure up to anything at Stark Industries, but it was appropriate for a garage.

“This is pretty cool.” Peter admitted, running his eyes over the workspace. He looked over at the workbench where a large number of unfinished projects sat, right next to some finished ones, which included a robot arm about the size of DUM-E, a prototype Iron man style helmet, and several other relatively small projects. “You made this?” Peter walked over and picked up the helmet, inspecting it.

“Yeah, but I’m not amazing with programming so it’s just an engineering project as of now.” Harley admitted. “Why’d you want to come in here?”

“I need to fix my suit.” Peter said simply, carefully clearing a spot on Harley’s workbench so he could set down the case. Harley gave him an amused look and Peter countered it with a confused expression. “What?”

“Nothing…” Harley chuckled. Peter scowled but began finding several wires and adapters around the workbench so he could plug the suit into the monitor. “This is just kind of familiar for me.” Harley laughed.

“How so?” Peter asked as he booted up the computer.

“Did Tony ever tell you how we met?” Harley asked. Peter frowned and shook his head just as the computer booted up. Harley didn’t say anything more as he watched Peter’s fingers type quickly, the teenager bringing up the base code for Karen and connecting the AI in the suit to the computer.

 _“Hello Peter.”_ Karen’s voice rang out in the garage and Peter grinned.

“Alright Karen, diagnostics please. What’s the easiest thing to start with?” Peter asked the AI as he scrolled through another page of code.

 _“The nanobots stationed around the torso seem to be malfunctioning.”_ Karen informed him. Peter nodded and stopped scrolling at a particular section of the code.

“Yep, got that.” Peter muttered.

“So…you’re like a Mechanic or something?” Harley asked with a mischievous grin. Peter raised an eyebrow and looked back at Harley.

“What?” Peter was confused, and Harley was having a great time. Peter shook his head and changed the subject. “Never-mind. I need your help anyway.” Peter handed Harley a wrench and directed him to the case. Peter pressed a button and the case expanded to form the suit, though since it was empty, it behaved like fabric and draped over the table.

“Whoa, that was awesome!” Harley exclaimed. “This is made out of nanobots?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Peter nodded. “Okay, when I say so, you’re going to hit that spot with the wrench.” He pointed to the torso of the suit.

“Wait, why?” Harley creased his brows in confusion.

“Because I’m trying to jump start the repair function, but right now the bots don’t know there’s anything that needs to be repaired.” Peter explained quickly with a sigh. “So then I have to damage it further, however minutely, in order to get it to work properly, okay?” Harley nodded. Peter typed a string of code and then pressed the enter key. “Now.” Harley hit the torso of the suit. “Karen, give me updates.” Peter instructed.

 _“Torso repair function activated for subgroup forty-three.”_ Karen replied. Peter nodded and he repeated the process.

“Now.” Peter said, and Harley hit the torso again.

 _“Torso repair function activated for subgroup twenty-five and fifty-nine.”_ Karen reported.

Harley and Peter continued to do that until the nanobots were repairing the damage to the torso of the suit. That took them about an hour, and it was tedious, but when they got it done, Harley was ready to relax. Peter, however, took to fixing the navigation system. It was slightly easier than the flight functions, as he just had to replace a part in the suit and the rest was programming.

“You know, when I first met Tony, he broke into my garage in Tennessee.” Harley began with a laugh. Peter gave him a look as he slotted in the replacement part in the suit. While the part wasn’t made of nanobots, he figured it would make do until he was able to fully repair the suit back at the compound. “He was doing what you are now. Fixing his suit.” Peter frowned, but began typing to fix the programming issue.

“Your point?” Peter snapped rather harshly. He didn’t really want to talk about Tony, but that was all people were trying to talk to him about lately.

“My point is, he’d be proud of you.” Harley concluded. “Anyone with eyes can see that you’re so much like him.”

“I’m not.” Peter muttered.

“Yeah, you are, and I think you need to admit that to yourself too.” Harley sighed. “I’m just saying that right now, this situation, is reminding me so much of how I met Tony.” Peter didn’t realise he had begun tearing up until he felt the droplet fall on his hand.

“I miss him.” Peter admitted, having stopped programming to turn around to face Harley. “Everyone keeps telling me how much I’m like him, asking me whether or not I’m going to take over for him, there’s just _so much_ to work through in my head but I can’t because people won’t _shut up_.” Peter felt his heart race as his vision began to spot. “I-I…” He trailed off and stood abruptly, rushing outside to get some air. Peter collapsed in the dirt and tried to slow his breathing.

“Are you having a panic attack?” Harley followed him outside. Peter didn’t say anything, but he nodded as he took in a sharp gasp of air, quickly followed by a wimpier as he tried to work through the panic. “Do you get these often?”

“Y-yep.” Peter gritted his teeth.

“Can I help? What do you need?” Harley began firing off rapid questions, which agitated Peter and got him to claw into the dirt. Peter closed his eyes and tuned him out, or tried to, because he nearly punched the other teenager when Harley grabbed his arm. Apparently Peter had begun to fall over, and Harley was trying to stop him, but the contact was unexpected.

“I need you to _shut up!”_ Peter said rather loudly. Harley clamped his mouth shut and Peter managed to slow his breathing enough to stand. Peter was unbalanced once he got to his feet, stumbling towards the garage. Harley tried to help him but Peter batted him away, opting to hold onto the wall instead.

“Sorry.” Harley frowned. “That happened to, by the way.” At Peter’s confused glance, Harley elaborated. “With Tony, I mean. I messed up a panic attack too.” Peter managed to scoff a laugh as he moved slowly back into the garage.

They sat down in silence, Peter quickly getting back to work on the navigation system and Harley took to working on one of his unfinished projects. It took a while, but eventually Peter finished with the navigation system and moved on to the flight functions. If he wanted to get back to New York faster than he could by web swinging, the flight functions were the way to do it. They were generally restricted unless it was an emergency, since Peter’s whole thing was web swinging, but since Peter had no web fluid left and he was miles away from even the compound, he took extra care in repairing the flight functions.

“You know, for the record, you’re a pretty good ‘Mechanic’ Pete.” Harley commented. Peter cracked a small, yet sad, smile.

“Uh…thanks Harley.” Peter replied. “You are too, you know. I think he’d be proud of you too.” Harley looked down at his feet at that comment, so Peter couldn’t see his reaction, but he knew the air in the garage was sadder than it should’ve been. “Anyway,” Peter clapped his hands to break the silence. “I think I’ve got the flight functions down, so I’ll do a test and then I’ll probably be off.” Peter said. Harley nodded and set his project down to the side. “Karen, how’re we looking?”

 _“All major functions are operational.”_ Karen reported. Peter ginned. _“Good job, Peter.”_ Peter laughed and pressed the button to put on his suit. The Iron Spider suit moulded to Peter’s body and the teenager let out a celebratory whoop. He walked outside, Harley in tow, and the mask snapped over his head.

“Alright Karen, let’s see what this bad boy can do.” Peter said, mostly to himself and the AI. “Initiate flight functions, stable.” Peter instructed. Almost immediately, the nanobots made repulser jets in the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, and Peter lifted off the ground in a steady hover.

 _“Flight functions, stable.”_ Karen informed him. Peter grinned inside the suit and looked down at Harley.

“It’s been good, Harley.” Peter said.

“Yeah, Pete, it has.” Harley smiled and gave Peter a salute instead of saying goodbye, Peter sending one back.

“Alright Karen, pack a punch into the thrusters will you?” Peter said.

_“Of course, Peter.”_

In the only moment Peter would feel like Iron Man, he was launched into the sky at incredible speeds, Harley’s house and the surrounding area quickly turning into the distant landscape as he flew. Peter let out a whoop and a yell of joy as he did some experimental manoeuvres in the air.

“Hey, Karen? What happened to the Rhino-guy?” Peter asked.

 _“Aleksei Sytsevich was apprehended by Mr. Wilson, Mr. Barnes, Dr. Banner and Mrs Stark.”_ Karen replied. _“He has been placed into custody on the Raft.”_

“Huh…fair enough.” Peter muttered. He was curious as to what made the guy turn into a huge rhino, but he figured he could look at that back at the compound. He just had to focus on getting there first.


	5. The Avenger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FOR SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME IN THE FORM OF THE STARK INDUSTRIES GLASSES PETER RECEIVES. THIS DOES NOT SPOIL THE MOVIE, AND THE INFORMATION IN THIS CHAPTER WAS REVEALED IN A TV SPOT AND IS ONLY A MINOR ELEMENT OF THIS CHAPTER.
> 
> Peter goes on a mission with The Avengers and ends up scaring everyone around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FOR SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME IN THE FORM OF THE STARK INDUSTRIES GLASSES PETER RECEIVES. THIS DOES NOT SPOIL THE MOVIE, AND THE INFORMATION IN THIS CHAPTER WAS REVEALED IN A TV SPOT AND IS ONLY A MINOR ELEMENT OF THIS CHAPTER.

The blast echoed through the street. Peter snapped his head in the direction it came from, the mask of the Iron Spider armour - Mark two, now red and gold - snapping over his head. The HUD highlighted where the blast originated and Peter immediately went into action, swinging over to the scene. He landed on the roof of the building across the road from a dark warehouse. One side of the warehouse had been completely blown away, the wall having turned to rubble.

“Karen, what am I looking at?” Peter asked. The eyes on the suit narrowed as Karen analysed the situation.

 _“Alien weaponry, Peter. I have notified the available Avengers for assistance.”_ Karen told him. Peter frowned.

“You didn’t need to do that. I’ve dealt with alien weaponry before.” He told his AI.

 _“I’m sorry Peter, but these weapons have been modified and are more advanced.”_ Karen stated.

“Send a reconnaissance drone.” Peter instructed.

 _“Of course, Peter.”_ Karen replied. _“EDITH has sent a drone to your location.”_ It wasn’t long before a Stark Industries drone came into sight. The drone shimmered for a moment, and it vanished, having employed retro reflective panels to stay out of sight. _“The drone is now invisible visually and electronically.”_ Karen told him.

A small video link with what the drone was seeing appeared on the HUD, situated in the corner so Peter could see while watching. It was shortly after he had sent the drone inside that he heard the whirring of mechanical wings and footsteps behind him. Peter turned quickly, and the mask of his suit retracted from his face.

“Hey, kid.” Sam Wilson greeted. The newest Captain America had on a different, yet similar, suit to what he used to wear. It was now in the classic Captain America colour scheme, red, white and blue, and seemed to be in the same style as his attire as Falcon.

“Hey.” Peter returned the greeting and looked back to the warehouse. “Anyone else coming?”

“Yeah, Wanda’s on her way with Scott, Clint, Barnes and Bruce. T’Challa and Shuri happened to be in New York so they're coming as well.” Sam stated. As if on cue, Wanda Maximoff landed behind them, bringing Scott Lang, Bucky Barnes and Clint Barton with her, using her powers. Bruce Banner seemed to have jumped from the ground and landed with a loud thud next to the others. His injured arm was looking better, but still wasn’t great. Since he had brought everyone back, Rhodey tried to find some sort of Stark Technology that could help Bruce use his arm again like Tony had done for Rhodey’s legs. When he found nothing, he employed Peter’s help, who looked to Shuri for extra help. Peter ended up creating a similar brace as to what was used for Rhodey’s legs, but thanks to Shuri, the brace was more like a sleeve and had healing functions as well.

“Are we waiting for the last two?” Wanda asked, gesturing to the warehouse.

“Why didn’t they come with you?” Sam frowned.

“Karen, what’s the status on T’Challa and Shuri?” Peter asked his AI, the mask of his suit snapping back over his head.

 _“They should be arriving shortly.”_ Karen informed, showing Peter an estimated time of arrival to their position.

“They should be here in three…two…one.” Peter looked up at the sky and the silent, practically invisible Wakandan jet hovered above them. The hangar door at the back of the jet opened and T’Challa, dressed in his full Black Panther suit, jumped out, landing in the classic superhero pose before standing. Shuri followed her brother’s lead, dressed in a similar suit, but designed to fit her own likes. It was a full body suit made of the same material as the Black Panther suit she designed, but cut off at the selves with her gauntlets at her hands.

“It was nice to get the invite to the party.” Shuri grinned at Peter as she stood.

“It isn’t much of a party, but we should probably get down there.” Peter told them. “I have a drone inside, and there seems to be a bunch of guys loading up a truck with the weapons. There was a misfire, which explains the explosion.” Peter explained quickly “Karen, how many heat signatures are in there?”

 _“There seems to be twenty four people inside.”_ Karen said.

“Alright. Twenty four guys.” Peter readied himself to jump off the roof to swing to the warehouse. “We can take them.”

Peter jumped and shot a web at a street light, landing directly inside the warehouse through the hole in the wall the explosion had created. The Avengers landed around him and the group of men loading up a truck with the alien weapons all snapped to attention. Immediately, one grabbed one of the weapons and charged it up, the other men following suit. Peter’s senses tingled and he dodged an incoming blast, and shot a web over the top of the weapon.

The groups began to fight, Sam taking on several of them, throwing his shield to knocked them back if they got too close to any of the other heroes. Wanda took to engaging any that she could, using her powers to levitate while she threw pieces of the rubble at them. Bucky was fighting one of the more skilled men, while simultaneously holding off another. Clint had found a perch and was shooting an array of different arrows, ranging from flares to exploding arrows, to just regular arrows. Bruce had picked up the truck and thrown it away from the main part of the fight. Shuri and T’Challa were teaming up to fight a group of the men, the vibranium on their suits, and the technology Shuri had built into them, allowing them to survive being blasted by alien weapons and send the blast waves back at the men they were fighting. Scott seemed to be having fun as he was confusing the people he was fighting by shrinking as they went in for a hit, then returning to his normal size behind them just to hit them in the face.

The fight lasted longer than it should have, and just as they though they had won, Peter’s senses tingled. Alien weapons came out of the ceiling and the walls, having been made into turrets of some form. The Avengers backed into a group and stayed silent as they looked around at the multitude of weapons aimed at them. That amount would surely kill them.

“That was fun to watch.” A man walked onto the balcony to what likely used to be an office that overlooked the warehouse floor. He clapped and looked at the heroes he had gathered. “If you move, they will shoot you.” Karen ran facial recognition and Peter was left with a pit in his stomach.

 _“Ezekiel Stane, son of Obadiah Stane.”_ Karen informed him.

“Ezekiel Stane!” Peter called, getting Stane to freeze.

“Well if it isn’t _Spider-Man_. Stark’s apparent heir.” Stane laughed.

“I’m not his heir.” Peter told him, even though he knew it was somewhat true. Tony had left Peter a lot more than he had expected. The glasses with EDITH that he gained on his Europe trip being only the tip of the iceberg, and even that was too much in Peter’s opinion. Then there was what Tony had officially left him in his will.

“We both know you are.” Stane walked down the stairs and faced them directly. “I was hoping I’d get all of you here. Though I didn’t exactly bank on it being right now, but I’ll take my plans skipping steps over nothing.” He laughed and walked over to Wanda, staring at her momentarily before circling the group. “How do you feel when I tell you I have an alien bomb set up nearby that would kill hundreds of people?” Stane grinned in maniacal delight. “None of you can move, or you’ll die, so how about I show you.” Stane pulled a tablet from under his arm and showed the group a live video feed of a park nearby. “Any minute, the bomb will go off and those people…those children…will died.” He stared directly at Peter. “And maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll get to kill you and take what is rightfully mine.”

“What do you mean what’s rightfully yours?” Clint asked with a frown.

“My father was CEO of Stark Industries before Tony Stark took his place!” Stane seethed and walked over to Clint. “I deserve the inheritance!”

“I’ve had it with people becoming the bad guy because Tony Stark pissed them off.” Peter spat. “Karen, I need EDITH.” The HUD switched from Karen to EDITH, the lenses suddenly tinted blue. When Peter created the Iron Spider Mark two, he found a way to integrate the EDITH AI into his suit. Karen took primary control, but he could ask for EDITH if he needed.

 _“Hello Peter.”_ EDITH greeted.

“EDITH, I need you to remotely shut down the turrets.” Peter instructed. He could see on the HUD that EDITH was trying.

 _“I cannot remotely shut down alien weaponry for more than thirty seconds.”_ EDITH told him. _“Would you like me to do so?”_

“Yes, do it!” Peter grunted. EDITH put a countdown on the side of the HUD and when it began, Peter immediately went into action. He flipped over Stane’s head and pulled the tablet into his hand with a web. “Karen, location trace.” Peter said, staring at the screen.

“Kid, how did you…?” Sam asked, stepping forward.

“No time! You guys take care of Stane, I’m going for the bomb!” Peter told him.

Sam had no time to argue as Peter was already leaving, the HUD lighting up the path he needed to take in order to reach the bomb as quickly as he could. When Peter reached the park, he instructed Karen to find him the bomb. When the AI couldn’t detect it, Peter brought EDITH back and asked the second AI to find any unusual signals being transmitted.

 _“I have found one signal that might be of interest.”_ EDITH told him, highlighting the spot where it originated.

Peter ran to it, ignoring the children trying to get his autograph and the people trying to take his picture, and flipped over the park bench it was stuck under (The bench may or may not have been bolted into the pavement). Peter did a split second engineering analysis of the bomb and quickly realised he had no idea how to diffuse it.

 _“Bomb is alien in origin.”_ Karen informed him, switching back from EDITH.

“Yep…got that.” Peter muttered. “How long until it goes off?”

 _“One minute and twenty-three seconds.”_ Karen stated. Peter’s sense of urgency got him to act quickly and he grabbed the bomb.

“Activate Iron Spider flight functions.” Immediately, Peter shot into the air. He kept his direction straight up. He didn’t know how big of a blast the alien bomb would create, so he just kept going up in hope that he would get far enough away from the city to not have anyone killed when it went off.

 _“Kid, what the hell are you doing?”_ Sam’s voice rang through his helmet.

“I’m taking the bomb. It’s going off in about a minute and I had no time to figure out how to diffuse it.” Peter told him. “It’s okay, Sam.” Peter muttered. He hung up on Sam and let out a breath as he hit a layer of cloud.

 _“Shall I call Mrs. Parker?”_ Karen asked.

“Yeah…might as well.” Peter replied.

 _“Hey, Pete. Glad you called because I was just about to order something for dinner. What do you want? It’s between Pizza and Thai.”_ May asked him. Peter let out a chuckle.

“Sorry, May…i’m-uh…not going to be home.” Peter told her quickly. “I love you.” He added.

 _“Pete? What’s going on?”_ May’s voice sounded concerned but the call dropped and Peter was left in silence. The bomb in his hands let out a rapid beeping noise and Peter knew his time was up. He closed his eyes and waited for the blast.

He felt himself getting hit and the thrusters in his suit stopped working. He felt the bomb slip away from his hands. Peter opened his eyes and watched as he fell through the sky, letting out a yell as he did so. When the thrusters finally worked, Peter was able to right himself in mid air and look to the sky. There, he saw Wanda floating and using her powers to contain the blast that rang out from the bomb. Peter breathed a sigh of relief as he watched.

When he and Wanda made it back to the warehouse, he saw the rest of the Avengers had tied up Stane and his men, with the police taking them into custody as they walked in. Sam gave him a clap on the shoulder and an exasperated look. Bruce seemed to look at him sadly, and took Peter aside.

“What you did was brave, Peter, but it was also stupid.” Bruce told him. “You could have died.”

“Yeah…I-uh…I know.” He said as he shifted on his feet. “I was trying to save everyone, you know? That whole self-sacrifice thing is great for publicity.” He shrugged, trying to bring humour to the situation.

“Peter…did you…did you _want_ to?” Bruce asked gently. Peter’s eyes widened and he quickly shook his head.

“Oh! Oh, no, definitely not!” He exclaimed. “I just sort of prepared myself for it happening, you know? My expectations for being a ‘super hero’ aren’t unrealistic.” He shrugged. Bruce shook his head and let out a sigh of relief.

“Just tell someone if that changes, okay, kid?” Bruce asked.

“Yeah, of course.” Peter nodded.

“You know how many times Tony did something like that? I don’t want you to die from it too.” Bruce told him. Peter frowned and nodded.

“Yeah…okay.” Then, a realisation hit him and he froze. “Aunt May!”

Without saying goodbye, Peter activated the thrusters in his suit and flew his way over to Queens where he landed on the balcony of their tiny apartment. May jumped in shock as she sat on the couch, watching the news. She quickly ran over to the balcony, opened the door and pulled Peter into a hug, not even waiting for the suit to retract.

“I thought you were going to die…” May muttered into his ear as they hugged, May’s grip tighter than she had ever held Peter before. “The news was reporting on it, I didn’t even turn it on until after you called. You scared the hell out of me…” She sniffed and Peter felt a tear on his cheek. Peter pulled away from his aunt and walked inside to take a seat on the couch, May sitting next to him. “Why’d you do it? Or try to, anyway.”

“If I didn’t do anything, hundreds of people would have died. Kids included. I couldn’t let that happen.” Peter said with a shrug. “I’ll…uh…i’ll be fine, May.” May pursed her lips but didn’t say anything more.

“You’re my hero, Peter.” May teased, but was completely serious. “Just, don’t you dare ever do anything like that again.” Her tone shifted from lighthearted to firm and Peter gulped.

“I won’t.” He stated. “Never again.” Although he couldn’t entirely promise that it wouldn’t ever happen again, he did so for peace of mind for his aunt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had to remove Steve Rogers from the tags because I couldn't find a way to fit him into the story. Sorry. Maybe next one.
> 
> I know I said I wasn't going to add any Far From Home spoilers, but the NEXT CHAPTER WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS and will deal with the first post credits scene (and mention the second). It is not imperative to read the last chapter to finish the fic, but it is a pretty epic end so it would be better to read it.


	6. The Press Conference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CONTAINS MAJOR FAR FROM HOME SPOILERS!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN!!
> 
> Pepper organises a press conference, and Peter decides to deal with his problem head on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTAIN MAJOR FAR FROM HOME SPOILERS!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN!!
> 
> This one's only short, but I figured for an ending to this fic, the length is appropriate

Peter shook his body in an effort to diffuse his nerves. Happy gave him a look through the rear view mirror of the black SUV he was driving, before going back to looking at the road. Pepper sat in the passenger seat, typing away on her phone while May sat next to him. Everyone was dressed in business-like attire, Peter included. Pepper wore a wrinkle-less white dress with her hair neatly done up and her makeup immaculate. May wore a slimming black dress with her hair loose and very minimal makeup while Peter donned a suit that Pepper had insisted he wear. He didn’t have a tie, or anything else to complete it, but it was simply dress pants, a suit jacket over a white button up shirt and black dress shoes. He wore the EDITH glasses in some attempt to put on a mask to boost his confidence. He was naturally awkward, so anything that hid a part of his face was a godsend for his confidence levels.

“You’ll be fine.” May reassured softly next to him. Peter gave her a tight smile but shrugged.

“I’ve never done one of these before.” Peter hissed.

“Relax, kid.” Pepper spoke up from the front. “You won’t even be talking first.”

“I know, but can you blame me for being nervous?” He asked.

“I guess not.” Pepper pursed her lips before putting her phone to her ear. “Yes…we’ll be coming in through the back so make sure it’s clear…yes, I know…thank you.”

“What do I say?” Peter asked May frantically. “I mean, I have cards, but that doesn’t seem natural-“

“Calm down or you’re going to bust something.” Happy grunted. “We’re here.”

The Avengers compound loomed over them and Peter looked out the window. The building seemed even more imposing and intimidating than ever before, causing him to gulp and push down the subconscious need to vomit. He didn’t want to ruin the suit Pepper gave him.

“I’m going to be sick.” Peter commented.

“You’ve fought aliens and a group of people makes you sick?” Happy raised an eyebrow which Peter could see through the rear view mirror.

“I like having a mask.” Peter told him. “It helps me distance myself from the situation, you know? Like it’s not Peter Parker out there, but Spider-Man.”

“That’s probably not healthy, kid.” Happy sighed. Peter grumbled something unintelligible as Happy drove them through the back entrance to the compound, which just so happened to be the garage that led to Peter’s workshop.

“Wow…i’ve never been in here before.” May commented. “This is yours?” She looked to Peter, who shrugged with a sheepish grin on his face.

Happy parked the car in one of the available spaces and the group got out. Peter nervously buttoned his suit jacket in the middle and May grabbed his shoulder affectionately to help ease his nerves. Pepper walked ahead, her phone out as she texted frantically while Happy stood behind the Parker’s. The group walked out into the main area of the compound - the same place where Tony took Peter to show him the Iron Spider suit for the first time - and there, they saw someone standing, waiting, wearing the Spider-Man suit that Peter had created. Peter stopped and let out a confused noise.

“Oh, that’s Talos.” Pepper said dismissively “You’ve met.”

“What?” Peter raised his eyebrows at Talos. “When?” It was then that Talos completely morphed into a green alien with ridges along his face and large, pointed ears. “Whoa!” Peter exclaimed, taking a startled step back.

“Oh…my…” May trailed off and looked back to Peter. “When did you meet him?”

“I don’t know.” Peter frowned.

“Sorry, you’d know me better as Nick Fury.” Talos offered Peter a hand to shake, which he did hesitantly. “I was filling in for the real Nick Fury.”

“You mean…in Venice? Prague? London?” Peter asked. Talos nodded and grinned.

“Me and my wife.” He gestured to a woman that was standing near the doors to the press conference room. The woman walked towards them and as she got closer, she morphed into the same type of alien as Talos. “This is Soren.”

“Hello.” She greeted.

“Were you hijacking my school trip too?” Peter asked, his voice raising slightly. Soren nodded and morphed into Maria Hill before morphing back.

“We’re part of a race called the Skrulls. We’re good friends of Nick Fury and Captain Marvel.” He smiled. “I will be impersonating you, today.” Talos told Peter. Peter turned back to Pepper and gave her an odd look.

“The plan is to convince people that Spider-Man and Peter Parker are too different people by having them both appear at the same time.” Pepper explained.

“Can you replicate my powers?” Peter asked Talos.

“I’m afraid not.” He sighed. “Though I have been given…sticky boots to pretend like I can.” Peter stifled a laugh and nodded.

“Uh…can I have a second before we do this?” He asked.

“Sure. I’ll go begin the press conference. Make sure you’re only a few minutes.” Pepper told him before walking through the door to their right and onto the platform to address the waiting crowd. Happy followed her onto the platform, but hung back, while May seemed to slip into the crowd with Soren at her side, leaving Peter and Talos alone. To get ready, Talos shifted into Spider-Man and walked over to the wall panel to grab the ‘sticky boots’ with matching gloves so he could walk on walls.

Peter frantically went through his palm cards, trying to get himself prepared. He didn’t want to do a press conference and he didn’t want to lie. He knew it would be for the best, but he didn’t think he could lie without somebody picking up on it. He had to admit, getting Talos involved was smart and definitely a good idea, but it wasn’t _his_ idea. In a split second decision, Peter walked over to Talos and hit him quickly on the back of the head, catching him by surprise. Peter wasn’t sure if Talos would go down straight away, but was surprised when he did. He was sure his enhanced strength was probably to blame for that. With a slight boost of confidence, Peter walked out into the conference room and stood behind Pepper as she finished her introduction.

“Where’s Talos?” Happy whispered. Peter shrugged but gave Happy slight smirk.

“Now, I’ll hand the podium over to Peter Parker.” Pepper announced before stepping back. Peter took a deep breath and walked up to the podium, and as he did he was assaulted with the bright flashes of cameras. He blinked in surprise before looking down at his cards.

“I was supposed to come up here and tell everyone that I’m not Spider-Man, that I didn’t kill Mysterio, that he was talking about another Peter Parker, yadda, yadda, yadda. That was the plan at least.” Peter managed to chuckle at his own words, surprised at how confident he sounded in the moment. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pepper frown before noticing that he had abandoned the cards. Pepper leant over to Happy and no doubt asked him where Talos was. “Quentin Beck, the man known as Mysterio, was a former Stark Industries employee. Beck used Stark Industries technology showcased at Tony Stark’s MIT guest lecture in 2016 to trick the public into believing that giant elemental creatures were attacking the citizens. I’m talking about this technology.” Peter adjusts the EDITH glasses before sending a quick voice command. A singular drone entered the room and hovered next to Peter. “These drones were used to project the images into a 3D environment, while the drones themselves simulated the damage done by the creatures.” Peter instructed EDITH to show the hologram, and almost immediately, a small scale version of the fight with the elemental fusion creature that had been projected around Tower Bridge appeared next to Peter. “Like that.” Cameras flashed wildly, trying to capture the new information given to them. Once the cameras died down in intensity, Peter instructed EDITH to turn off the projection. “Mysterio was a master of manipulation using glorified special effects to hurt people while simultaneously saving them. He wanted publicity and fame, trying to make sure he said his last ‘screw you’ to Tony Stark. He doctored the incriminating video that was sent to the Daily Bugle to make it seem like I’m the bad guy, when in fact those words were commanding the AI to cease fire and stop the illusions. I didn’t kill Mysterio because his own actions that day led to his own death, meaning not a finger was laid on him. You see, the truth is…” He paused and a confident smirk found its way to his face. He saw Happy and Pepper both simultaneously face palm in his peripheral vision, and May give him both a worried and proud look from her place at the back of the crowd.

“I am Spider-Man.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this was a good ending to this fic. It's not exactly a necessary chapter, but I really wanted to write something like this. I love how similar Tony and Peter are, but I really wanted to highlight his differences just as much as his similarities. Just the way he deals with people is different, even if he acts similar to Tony. Peter's more nervous, but once he gets going he's got more confidence. I tried to highlight that by making him wear the EDITH glasses as his 'mask' as Peter Parker. Having a barrier between you and a crowd is a good way to feel more relaxed.


End file.
